Spar making is science and process. The science is complex. The process is simple. I can spend hours scraping glue with unwaning enthusiasm. I can get busy building and dissolve myself in the doing of it.

The concept of it (“What the heck is a spar anyways?”) comes naturally through the process. Once you’ve built something, you understand it.

For the mast, the end is in sight. It’s a hollow rectangular mast, which I hadn’t known existed until I started this project. It’s mostly just sanding and attaching hardware that’s left to do.

The boom will be solid and round. Right now all we’ve got are two slabs of fir glued together. It’s crazy to look at this messy chunk of wood and imagine how precisely shaped it will be. But once I’ve built it, I’m sure I’ll understand.